Longtime efforts to get the names of 74 sailors killed during the Vietnam War added to a memorial honoring veterans remain stalled after another setback.
For decades, survivors and families have been fighting to add the names of those lost to the granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. The Pentagon has opposed the effort because the incident occurred over 100 miles outside the designated Vietnam War theater. A bill to add the names has circulated throughout both chambers, receiving bipartisan support, but usually with roadblocks to passage.
On Thursday, the debate once again hit the Senate floor. Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota tried to get the measure passed unanimously, but it was rejected by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who pointed to longstanding criteria and logistics issues that have prevented adding the names.
“We will find a way to honor these sailors, but at this juncture, there remain practical, legal and technical considerations that we have to resolve,” she said.
Murkowski is chairwoman of the Energy and National Resources Committee, which oversees the National Park Service that maintains the memorial. Despite the oversight, however, the Department of Defense decides who is eligible to be on the wall.
Tim Tetz, director of outreach for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, is aware of the efforts, but the fund doesn’t take a particular side as to whether the names should belong on the wall, which currently lists 58,276 names. Adding more isn’t an easy task, Tetz said, because the names are arranged by date and new panels can’t be extended or added.
“Even with modifications, it’s uncertain,” he told Roll Call on Friday. “To truly include these in the dignified way that they would deserve, one would have to replace the entire wall.”
Cramer expressed his disappointment in still not being able to get the names on the wall.
“The idea that we should continue to turn a blind eye to forgotten veterans because the work would be ‘substantial’ is ludicrous,” he said. “The country which landed a man on the Moon the same year these sailors died can’t figure out how to fix a wall honoring them?”
Since the wall was completed in 1982, modifications have been scarce. The Defense Department also estimates that there are about 500 veterans facing the same circumstances as the sailors. Concerns that the passage would bring similar efforts for others have also been brought up for debate.
